The invisibility articles continue from me! I was really honored in recent months to be asked by the editors of Psyche Magazine, from Aeon Publishing, to write an article speculating on why the concept of invisibility has intrigued people so much over the centuries.

This is a topic that I didn’t discuss too much in my book, because I wanted to focus on the science of invisibility, so I was delighted to get the opportunity to wax philosophically about it. From the introduction to the piece:

Invisibility – the power not to be seen – has captured the fascination and fantasies of people for literally thousands of years. In the earliest imaginings, invisibility was a power bestowed by the gods. In the 1st or 2nd century CE, for example, a Greek author now known as Pseudo-Apollodorus wrote about Perseus’ quest to kill the gorgon Medusa, aided by the Cap of Hades: ‘Wearing it, he saw whom he pleased, but was not seen by others.’ With the aid of the cap, Perseus was able to claim the head of Medusa and escape unseen from her sisters Stheno and Euryale. Stories of invisibility have been told ever since. One of the most recent tales is the movie The Invisible Man (2020), a reimagining of H G Wells’s classic novel. In this film version, a man uses invisibility technology to stalk and control his ex-girlfriend.

This was a lot of fun to write, and a delight to work with the folks at Psyche! You can read the whole piece at this link. They don’t always allow comments on articles at Psyche, but are enabling them for my post, so if you have any questions or comments, feel free to leave a message over there!